Family Starts With V
by Vanity-Sky
Summary: "I… uhh… you see… today's my birthday and I've never actually had a birthday party before…" Keith weakly admits, "My mom left me, my dad died, and I'm terrified of rejection" [etc...] Keith just wanted a pat on the back, someone to tell him he's done a good job, and a slice of cake. Klance bromance, Sheith/Broganes, Paladin Fam/BoM Fam. Keith birthday one-shot.


AN: Because time seems to elude me. I started writing this in the early morning but got busy throughout the day. Of course, I could never forget my smol spicy emo boi Keith's birthday! :D

Notice: There will be slight angst. You have been warned.

Ps. Minor references to season 4, nothing super spoiler-y tho.

I don't ship Klance in the romantic way, but bromance? You got it! I also adore Broganes but this fic leans more on the Klance side. (Maybe next time I'll focus more on the latter)

Summary: "I… uhh… you see… today's my birthday and I've never actually had a birthday party before…" Keith weakly admits, "My mom left me, my dad died, and I'm terrified of rejection" his voice strains as he tries to swallow his heavy confession. Keith just wanted a pat on the back, someone to tell him he's done a good job, and a slice of cake. Klance bromance, Sheith/Broganes, Paladin Fam/BoM Fam. Keith birthday one-shot.

Happy reading~ :)

Family Starts With V

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

At the age of four, he learned what it meant to not be worth the time.

His memories are fuzzy and long-forgotten. Just trying to think about it hurts his brain. He can faintly remember her name now.

The only real memory he has of her is when he managed to sneak out of his bedroom one early morning. Red comfy onesie on while holding onto a pink hippopotamus plushie in one hand.

He remembers hearing her sniffle as she opened the door with a slight creak.

"Mommy?" he calls out sleepily, rubbing away at his eyes.

He remembers the outside lights illuminating her image at the front entrance. Her neck turned but not fully to look at him.

He hears her deeply sigh as he asks, "Mommy, where are you going?"

Now that he's older, his mind goes back and forth on whether or not she really did say something after she walked out the front door.

Sometimes in his dreams he can hear her whispering, "I'm sorry" like a ghost.

At four years old, he remembers dropping his plushie on the tan carpeted floor and crying. He cried until it woke up his father and he saw the wide opened door with no one there anymore but for Keith, he could still replay moments ago when the lights outside casted his mother's shadow as she hurriedly took her luggage and walked away forever.

At the age of eight, he experienced real loss and loneliness for the first time.

He had come to terms with his mother leaving him for reasons that he may never know.

He was angry and hurt but tired. So, so, so tired of shedding tears for someone who chose to reject him.

He remembers the fear of death always looming over his shoulders. His father had been sick for years and there was a war brewing at the battlefront of their home.

He remembers his tiny pale hands trembling as he twisted the door knob of his home. The same front door where his mother walked out on him all those years ago.

His knuckles whitened underneath the red of his bruised hands. His bloodied dry lips stinging as he licked them. The healing scab on his right cheek started to throb and pulse. He had gotten into yet another fight at school. His father was too ill to really care to correct his ways anymore and he was just emotionally disconnected most of the time to remember to properly take care of his own body.

Keith had pictured this scenario happening in several different ways but he hadn't expected the selfish way out.

"Dad, I'm home!"

"Dad?"

He calls out throughout the rickety, thin walled house.

His breath shudders, a chill running up his spine as he braces himself to check inside his father's room.

Slowly creeping up to the master bedroom, he doesn't bother to call out anymore as he sees a small path visible from the sun's ray coming in through the opened bathroom door.

His heart starts to beat faster as he gets closer.

"D-D-Dad?" he stutters as he finds his father hunched over the bathroom's tub.

The entire bathroom reeked of alcohol with several medications and pills scattered around.

His eyes start to water as he falls to his knees next to his father's body. Shaking the cold body, he opens his mouth to speak but his lips quiver and all he can summon up is garbled noises as the shock starts to settle over him.

He starts to frantically shake his father's shoulders, finally letting the tears escape. His face twisted in agony, eyelashes sticking to his face, the drying tears leaving marks on his cheeks.

"W-W-Why d-d-did y-y-you have to le-leave m-me t-too?"

His father didn't bother to leave a note behind.

At the age of fifteen, he had already lived the life of countless men twice his age.

Luckily his home had already been his own property, having been in his family for generations.

He knew how to scrape by for money and food and other necessities to keep surviving alone.

After a few months of his father's passing, he decided to return to school. He came back more quiet, observant, and quick-witted. He was still temperamental but fought the urge to start up physical fights.

He had come up with the conclusion that after he had to drag his father's stiffening body out the back door of the kitchen and bury him in a ditch he made with a rusty shovel in their desert landscape yard, that maybe the reason people left him one way or another was because they couldn't stand dealing with his attitude.

His fears, anxieties, and anger stemmed from his mother abandoning him but he thought at times that maybe it had always been there, long before then.

Once he started to change his ways, he noticed a significant change in some of his teachers. They had become more tolerant of his behavior and even started to encourage him to reach for the stars. He had nothing left but to complete school.

He remembers saying "what the hell" to the wind and applied for the Galaxy Garrison Academy. He was self-taught and trained in several different subjects that couldn't be easily learned in a classroom setting. He had gotten decent grades in both elementary and junior high, he figured that he might as well aim for a fighter pilot career in high school.

He already knew how to fight and no one on earth apparently wanted him so why not go to outer space.

Maybe he'd have better luck with the aliens.

It was there at the Garrison that he had met someone he grew to see as an older brother figure in his life. Someone that never gave up on him despite himself not understanding why. He wasn't worth the worry nor time.

He remembers Senior Officer Shirogane kindly greeting him when he first arrived at the academy and gave him a personal tour, showing him the ropes. He had been accepted into the school a couple of weeks after school had officially started.

He remembers always being eager to salute his Senior Officer and joking with him as they did physical training and drills together.

He also remembers the rumors of Shiro dying while on a mission to Kerberos. He remembers it spun his world upside down as the only person who believed in him also died, leaving him behind.

It was as if death came for anyone who tried getting close to him like a sick twisted curse.

He remembers breaking down in the confines of his stale room. The static white walls did nothing to comfort him as more and more fellow students talked about the three missing people of that mission. The more and more he started to believe them and that Shiro was truly gone.

It was too much for him and he impulsively decided that school was a mistake and not worth his time anymore. Why bother in trying to improve himself when there was no one there to make him feel like it actually meant something.

His own ambitions, desires, and self-worth were dead.

Late at night, sometimes he'd contemplate on taking his own life. Leave the easy way out, the coward way like his father had. He'd stare at his blade, the only thing left from his parents, wrapped in a dirtied cloth. He'd stare at the facets of the sharp blade as it'd reflect the light of the moonlight from his opened window. He'd twist and turn the blade in his hand countless times and imagine how he'd stab himself. Did he want a messy death or something neater? Would it even matter when he lives in the middle of nowhere, miles apart from any real civilization?

His body wouldn't be buried. It'd just stay still, rotting in time. Left for the birds and small desert animals to pick on until there was nothing left of his flesh. Only bones.

He'd angrily throw his knife away, somewhere far away from his shaking hands. He'd curl himself up in his blankets and hit his head against his hard pillows and try to force himself to sleep.

At the age of sixteen, he had become obsessed with finding something called Voltron.

One night, in the dead hours of the early morning, something woke him up from his sleep. Drenched in cold sweat, he had dreamt of Shiro, and he didn't know why but something told him that his friend was still alive.

He devoted the entire year to gathering as much information as he could until he eventually found his way back to the Garrison and with a rag-tag team of other curious-minded teens tagging along, they managed to break in and save Shiro.

A tuft of hair in the front had turned white and he was now missing an arm but he was still the same Shiro that Keith remembered. It was then that he dove right into a whirlwind of adventures across the known universe and then some.

At the age of seventeen, he hadn't bothered telling anyone about his birthday. Shiro was missing yet again and he was unceremoniously placed as the decisive head of Voltron. He was no leader, far from it.

He was pissed off and feeling more isolated than ever before.

He couldn't understand why no one else was making more of an effort to find their lost leader and friend.

Maybe he was the only one who really cared about Shiro? No, he couldn't start thinking selfishly in that way. Shaking his head, he deeply sighed and began his search again.

He never gave up, not until there really was no sign of saving Shiro.

He knew that the Black lion wouldn't give up either as they managed to find their lost friend after what felt like an eternity.

Keith remembers holding back on the desperate hug he wanted to give Shiro. He allowed the others to greet Shiro and gave him the space he needed in order to heal but what he wanted the most was to thank Shiro for never giving up on _him_.

Not when he was adamant about finding the Blade of Marmora's HQ, not when Shiro could see the potential he failed to see in himself in order to be a leader, and not when the world around him told him that he'd lost his brother for a second time.

Keith never gave up because someone alive still believed in him and it was just enough for him to start believing in himself.

Now at the age of eighteen, if he was being honest with himself, he never thought he'd reach this age.

He saw himself giving up sooner than later.

He was glad he had waited and willed those dark lurking thoughts to the back of his head though. If he hadn't, then he wouldn't have had made life-long friends like he has now. He wouldn't have discovered his half-Galra lineage and be given the opportunity to train with Kolivan and his men. He wouldn't have been able to save his brother, friend, and leader Shiro.

There was now a list of things he could've missed out on if he weren't here. A list that hadn't existed in his youth.

Keith looked at himself in the bathroom's mirror. In its reflection, he saw the image of boy hardened by time and experience. Although he was now considered an adult by earth's standards, he didn't see a young man. He always saw the image of a lost little boy, crying in a dark corner while holding his beloved plushie.

He still had so many questions left unanswered by the universe.

Now instead of being a coward who would easily get angry with the world, now he was fueled by his passions and determination to _find_ himself.

Lost deep in thought, he failed to hear when someone entered the shared co-ed bathroom.

"Hey man" Lance yawns as he scratches his stomach, wearing those same Altean blue pajamas he'd always wear to bed.

Keith silently nodded, observing Lance preparing to brush his teeth. It wasn't that long ago that he pulled the cheesiest thing he's ever done - giving Lance a camera for his own birthday with an attached letter calling him family.

He was tempted to speak up and casually bring up his birthday but that just wasn't who he was.

"Something on your mind?" Lance asks as he gets ready to gargle a cup of Olkari herbs, the closest thing they'll ever have to mouthwash in space.

Keith shakes his head, places a hand on Lance's shoulder briefly squeezing it before he walks out.

Once outside, he deeply sighed.

"Mission briefing in five" Pidge suddenly runs up to him and just as quickly leaves.

"Huh?" he questions being caught off guard by her arrival and then sudden vanishing act.

Keith makes his way to see what's this mission briefing deal was all about. Once he reaches his destination, he finds Shiro at the front with Pidge and Hunk already leaving for their lion's hangar.

"What's going on?" he asks, as he stays a few steps away from Shiro.

"More coalition duties. I know you're busy with Blade work but I asked Kolivan for your assistance on this one. I already handed Pidge and Hunk their coordinates. I need you to check out this planet with Lance. I'm sorry but I have no time to hear your complaints on this matter, Keith" Shiro stops him mid-groan at the mention of partnering up with Lance.

He didn't hate Lance, he could only just take so much of his never-ending blabbering a day. "Fine, anything to be active" Keith deeply sighs for the umpteenth time that day. If he has work then that meant less time to mope around the Castle that no one even knows it's his birthday.

He guessed that this mission must be important to his Voltron side of duties if Kolivan himself allowed him to skip out on more reconnaissance missions.

"I'll go get ready" he tells Shiro as he prepares to walk out.

"Keith?" Shiro causes him to turn around.

"Yeah?"

"Meet Lance in Red's hangar. You'll be riding together"

Keith simply nodded and made his way out. He hadn't seen his previous lion since the switch. Like usual, Lance was running late, probably moisturizing or something.

"Hey boy" Keith speaks up, greeting his old friend and wondering if it'll put down it's defensive barrier. "I know it's been a while, sorry about that… but I hope that Lance has been good to you" he tells the giant metallic red robot.

Silence fills the room.

He tried to shove the dark thoughts away but with his current melancholy mood, it was hard not to think that of course Red would also reject him. It didn't need two Paladins just like it didn't need to pretend like it even remembered him.

"Guess we'll just wait for your new pilot" Keith phases his mask on from his Marmora suit and crosses his arms, standing a few inches away from the lion's barrier.

It's only then that the Red lion growls causing Keith to take off the mask. "Whoa, whoa, easy boy! What's gotten into y-… wait, I get it, you don't like this outfit" he frowns as he places a hand on his armored chest. "It's still me, Red. I'm still Keith but… I don't blame you for hating what I'm doing now. That I'm working with Galrans after what they've done to you but… I can't just ignore that being part-Galra is a part of me, of who I am now" he tells the lion, deciding to sit closer to the shield that was still up.

"I guess I'm just trying to find my place in this world and where I belong in it. You've taught me a lot and I know I could've learned more if only I had stayed as your Paladin but… but I've also been learning with Kolivan and the others. I'm grateful to you, though! You gave me a purpose, Red" Keith softly smiles at the lion, gaining another growl but one of approval this time.

It was then that the lion finally took down its defenses, allowing Keith even closer to where he could feel the faint heat emanating off of Red.

It felt comforting and warm like a mental hug being given to him.

"Do you want to know a secret, boy?" he asks the purring lion but looking to his left and right first making sure that Lance wasn't on his way just yet.

"Today's actually my birthday. I'm turning eighteen earth-years. Usually there's festivities where people give you gifts in exchange for sweets such as cake but the last birthday party I've had was when I was about seven maybe? I remember my dad had worked so hard despite being frail and sickly. My birthday happened to fall on a day when he was feeling fine. Oh man… it meant the world to me that I got to spend the entire day with him, especially working in our garage together and building things. I remember he even saved up enough money to surprise me with a slice of cake with a lit candle on top. We… were pretty poor, I knew my dad couldn't afford a full cake but we shared that piece of cake and it felt like we hit the lottery…" Keith fondly smiles at recalling his limited happy memories of his childhood. He desperately tried so hard to stop his lips from quivering in that tell-tale sign that he was about to cry.

"Sorry for rambling… I'm just really craving cake now" he chuckles to stop the burning, stinging sensation of tears from falling.

Red roars then, almost protectively of Keith not liking the feeling of distress coming off him.

"I miss you and our talks, Red. Again, I'm sorry I haven't come by any sooner"

Red dismisses his apology as he opens up to allow Keith in.

When the lion did this, Keith noticed Lance running their way.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late!" Lance pants as he tries to catch his breath.

"What the hell took you so long?" Keith raises a brow.

"Um, hello, looking this good takes a while! The ladies appreciate my efforts" Lance gives him a thumbs up with a toothy grin.

Keith could almost see the twinkles in both his finger and teeth.

"Whatever, let's get this mission over with" Keith says, being the first to enter the lion's cockpit.

"Me-ouch" Lance makes a faux cat noise while pretending to claw at an imaginary object in the air. He enters the lion to see Keith leaning against the wall, his new Blade of Marmora getup with the hoodie and phasing mask already set in place.

"Wow, I'm actually touched that you didn't try calling shotgun!" Lance jokes, "are you jelly that I've bonded with Red? Yeah, we're totes like lava besties now"

Keith rolls his eyes which luckily Lance couldn't see, phasing out of his mask, he looks directly at him and nods, "actually I am pretty jealous but just because you're now responsible for _my_ lion, doesn't mean that I've lost my full connection to it so… watch it"

"Dude, c'mon! You've bonded with both Red AND Black. Blue has all but abandoned me and Red has warmed up to me so _please_ let me have this. We'll go half on the joint-custody" Lance whines as he starts Red up to fly out of the Castle of Lions.

Keith couldn't help but let a small snort leave him, "sure, whatever you say"

Lance agreed with a hum as they made their way to the coordinates that Shiro gave them.

"Hey Lance?" Keith quietly calls while they're making steady progress to their course's location.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you"

This caught Lance off guard as he slightly tuned his neck to look at him, "for what?"

"For just being you. We're friends, right?"

"Dude, we're like family but heck yeah, we're best buds!"

Keith smiled at this, "I appreciate that, a lot"

"Keith, you're kinda scaring me. What gives? Like don't get me wrong, I don't mind these moments but… but if something's on your mind then just spill the beans. I'm all ears here"

Keith hesitates, he's known Lance and the others for a reasonable amount of time but his bonds with both Shiro and Lance ran deeper than the others. He knew he could trust them with anything… even dare say, his own life.

"I… uhh… you see… today's my birthday and I've never actually had a birthday party before…" Keith weakly admits, "My mom left me, my dad died, and I'm terrified of rejection" his voice strains as he tries to swallow his heavy confession.

Keith just wanted a pat on the back, someone to tell him he's done a good job, and a slice of cake.

But if he wanted all those things then he'd have to open up more about his self and his past that he'd much rather forget most of the time.

Lance left his lion on autopilot, got up from his seat and walked to stand face to face with Keith. He looked appalled as the only thing he could do was grab Keith by the shoulders and tightly squeeze him to death, taking him off guard.

"L-L-Lance, w-what ar-are you-you do-doing?" Keith asks, feeling like he was being crushed by a boa constrictor.

"This is called a hug. A human response to affection or signs of distress"

"Lance, I know what a hug is. I hug you guys all the time remember?"

"I know but seriously, WHAT THE CHEESE! You made me feel all special for my b-day and you're just NOW telling me it's yours?!"

"Its… really not a big deal but… I thought you should know anyways" Keith meekly replies.

Lance rubs his temples and pinches the bridge of his nose, "I just… wow, no birthday parties? I'm sorry but what!"

"Lance, I know you come from a very big family. It's normal for you but not for me but _please_ don't like pity me or something. I'm fine, really"

It took a while for Lance to finally calm down from his initial shock and once he had, it was nothing but understanding, taking in the rest of what Keith said but before he could ask, an alert beeped on Red's screen letting them know that they had arrived.

Taking the proper precautions that they would whenever exploring a new planet, they carefully made their way out.

"Dude, there's literally nothing here. It's all barren wasteland!" Lance groaned, feeling gypped over meeting hot new single alien ladies.

Keith made sure to mark down the location and let Shiro know once back inside Red.

"Hey…" Lance began, after a few minutes of silence in the barren wasteland.

"Yeah?" Keith pauses from making his way back into the lion.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Lance quietly but seriously offers.

Keith already knows what he means and deeply sighs again, "I know I should but… I just can't. Not now, at least but does the offer still stand if and whenever I am ready to?"

Lance grins, "always! Bros, remember?"

Keith nods, "right" he genuinely smiles.

Once they returned back to the Castle and were headed to go report in to Shiro. Lance grabbed Keith by the shoulder, stopping him from entering the room.

"What?"

"I meant what I said back there, you can always count on me to lend an ear to your troubles. We've all got skeletons in our closets. Believe it or not, including me"

Keith let out a small theatrical gasp, "no!"

Lance nodded smugly, "I know, I know, perfection such as myself _can't_ possibly have hidden secrets but woe is me, I totally do"

Keith snorted again, "okay, Shakespeare. C'mon let's go in"

"Right behind ya, buddy!" Lance says as he takes a step back, a huge Cheshire like grin plastered on his face as he silently counts down to three using his fingers.

"SURPRISE!" the room explodes into cheers with everyone including Kolivan, Regris, and Kaltenecker.

"Happy birthday, Keith!" Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk cheer with Hunk holding up an entire vanilla sponge cake covered in blue and white frosting.

"Happiest of Earthling Celebrations to you, Keith!" both Allura and Coran say in unison.

"Moo!"

"You've chosen knowledge over death today, well done" Kolivan congratulates him while Regris gives him a high-five, something he just recently learned thanks to Keith on the team.

"Wow… um… I'm at a loss for words" he shyly confesses.

Lance comes over, placing his arm over Keith's shoulder, squeezing him closer to himself and suggests, "okay, you say Vol- and I say -Tron"

"Laaance" Keith groans, "I already told you this time and time again. Why can't you just say Voltron?! Why does it need to be cut into two separate syllables?!"

Lance rolls his eyes, "because it's more fun that way! You still have much to learn, my young Paladin" he says, dramatically shaking his head.

Keith can feel himself getting irritated as he tries to simmer down quickly, "excuse you, I'm the eldest here, aside from Shiro"

At that, Keith could hear Shiro yell, "hey! I'm only twenty-five, thank you very much!"

Lance and Keith look at each other with knowing looks as they yell back, "love ya too, _Space Dad_!"

They both laugh with joyful tears forming at the corner of their eyes as they fist bump.

"Thank you everyone, really, this means the world to me" Keith says, as he's given the biggest slice of cake.

"Milkshakes for everyone!" Allura and Coran excitedly say as they pass them around.

Keith looks at Lance, "they got over their trauma" he shrugs.

Keith chuckles at that.

It was true what they say. Sometimes your real family is the family that you make for yourself. Keith doesn't know if he'll ever come face to face with his Galran birth mother or when he'll return to his Father's gravestone marked by his deserted childhood home back on earth but for now it was safe to say that he was grateful for being alive and for having the best of friends he could ever ask for.

He felt blessed knowing he had people who look to him for guidance and while their personalities tend to clash from time to time, he knew that, that was exactly what family is.

They'd joke, tease, listen to each other's problems, fight together, eat, sleep, share life experiences, etc.

The list could go on and on. A list that hadn't existed prior to now.

"I love you guys" Keith wholeheartedly smiled as Shiro and Lance were the first to throw frosting his way.

Licking the frosting away from his face, he scooped up the huge chunk that landed on the side of his cheek and chucked it at Allura who then declared, "cake fight!"

"But spare the milkshakes, they've done nothing wrong! They don't deserve this!" Coran chimed in, ready to defend Kaltenecker who just continued to moo.

Keith immersed himself into the fight, showing both Kolivan and Regris how it was done.

His family definitely started with Voltron.

Here and now. Forever.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Done!

I love complex characters like Keith, (dat s4 ending tho). Honestly, there's probably not a single character in Voltron that I don't like, except maybe like Haggar or something. Idk. Lmao.

Anyways, I don't have much to say other than my smol red emo bean deserves all the happiness in the world. If anyone has read my Lance b-day one-shot, I made an itsy-bitsy reference to it in this story.

Now I must tumble away and update my current on-going Shallura fic, _Apartment 119_.

Remember to R&R! Plz & Thankies! :]

I don't own Keith Kogane, Lance McClain, Takashi Shirogane and all other characters mentioned/used in this fic – Voltron Legendary Defender is owned by DreamWorks/Netflix.

I just own the idea/plot/story/whatever you want to call it~ lol :P


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